Dealings with Car sales people

how bout the line....if you want this car you better take it cause I got someone who wants it right now !

and... this car was owned by a little old lady who only took it to church on sundays...

 

So like, do you come with the car?

 

I don't understand why buying a car should be different than buying any other thing. When I go to get a carton of milk I'm not harassed by some salesperson, plus the price is right there on the shelf. No deals or any of that, if I don't like the price I just don't buy it.

 

Don't shoot the messenger! Lol. Ok ok, so I haven't purchased a car that way. But I thought that it would add to the discussion to mention that there are avenues that don't involve a sales guy; if that's what one's trying to avoid.

I'm actually surprised that they try to screw you. Then again, the ads do make it sound a little too good to be true.

 

Everytime I've bought a car..literally every single time, I've gotten the old - "this car was owned by a young female college student who only drove it back and forth to school so it's all highway miles "

 

Over the years my experiences have run the gamut. Back in the 80's when anti-lock brakes were first hitting the market I had a sales guy tell me I really didn't want them. When I asked him why he told me "you'll be stopping so much faster than everyone else you'll get rear ended." I was shocked he could say that with a straight face. Needless to say I did not by from him.
I have found that being an informed buyer gets you the best deal. Its easy to determine what the dealer's cost of the vehicle is. If you're trading a vehicle in know what its worth. The internet makes this info easy to obtain. Use the internet to look for the vehicle you want and see what multiple dealers are asking for it. Select the dealer you want to do business with and tell them you'll buy from them if .......
I did exactly that with the last vehicle I bought and the process was smooth and painless.

 

This is only true to a certain extent and it also depends on what is being purchased. I have had a long career in technology sales and helped many customers find a solution that worked for them from the many products in the market place.

 

Nothing pisses off a used car salesman more than knowing more about the car in question than he does...


Not as hard as it sounds... Most used car salesmen are a stupid as a bag of rocks.

 

I don't need to pay some douche-bag $500 to show me sum basic fucking features.

 

I buy at least one car or suv a year and NEVER deal with a sales person
it's all over the phone/email
douche bag is probably an accurate description

 

so you're surprised that a for-profit business would try to make money off you?

 

No. I figured they made money somehow, but I didn't think they would be ripping people off. Now I know!

Consumers be warned! Carvana will rip you off!

I should have Yelp searched it...

 

buying a car from a want add is a role of the dice. buying a car from a dealer is also a role of the dice.
so why waste time, money and exasperation on having anything to do with them?

if you live in a city with decent public transportation, why buy them at all? (unless you're in a business where you have drag a ton of crap around with you)

if you live out in the boonies, what you need is a truck, and it would be a good idea to know how to maintain it yourself,
and how to get the right parts at a parts store.
how to change the oil, replace the filters and ignition system, set up the timing and all the rest of it.
and maybe even have your own stock of things like oil, filters, coolant additives and so on.

(which just incidentally, none of which involves having to deal with car sales people)

 

I used to work as a service advisor. That is basically the sales man for fixing of the car. The sales people were the rudest people I have ever worked with. They are all smiles and hand shakes in front of the customer but if you heard what they said about in private you would never buy from then. The nature of commission work with no educational requirements means a certain sort of person will seek the job out. My dealership had new ones every other month.

Everyday I had to get yelled at since a sales men had told them whatever they needed to to get a sale. So when my time comes to fix a car they either think it's free or the issue did not exist in the first place. They did a good job gaining trust. These customers would swear that I was the liar since they worked with Chris or Mike or whoever for 3 hours on a Saturday. Chris has sold them 2 cars now. Why would Chris lie? Well he did sir I don't what to tell you.

I look younger than I am apparently. I've had some fun experience with salesmen refusing to show me cars. It's my one fancy taste. I am looking at things that cost money and go fast. They tell me to get my dad or come back when I have money or the worst one that I can't test drive the car unless I pay 100% for it up front. Financing is not even an option due to the kind of car it is. Unless it's a Ferrari and only like 200 are imported to America a year this is not true at all. And your dealership has insurance if I wreck it so calm down.

I tend to shop casually dressed and I have long hair. I look at it as a test. Do you judge a book by it's cover? I am not working so why should I dress like I do at my 9-5? What matters is I have money and you will see that if you give me customer service.

It's always fun to see the guy who ignored me walk past in an hour when I am filling out the paperwork on a car.
That was your commission sir I even walked up to first. You did not want it. Women have always helped me. It's the men who are rude. Also it's always the men who try all the old school money tricks. Like "what do you want your payment to be?" and the "mandatory" accessories. There are no mandatory accessories that what they are called accessories.

I know I am doing a good job when they get their manager to talk to me. I have a local sports car dealer that is low pressure and works hard to get any car you want. They know you know what you want if you have come. It's how I have gotten most of the cars I own. I have dealt with the old school style getting my fiance's car though. That was a long Saturday.

 

This car was owned by John Voight

 

When looking at cars recently, one of the alternatives that appealed to me the most was Tesla's model 3

The vehicle (after tax of about 9% here) plus any fees for the car lot, the total spent is around $52,000. For me who is used to driving whichever hand-me-down is available, it's a little sticker shock!

But in my travels looking at used cars I noticed something: The onboard computer.

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In an effort to keep this post short, I will summarize right now what I meant to add in the thread here: the computer is not as cool as it could be.

It feels like a dinosaur CRT to me, where ordinary vehicles have an interactive touch screen (like Tesla's) that isn't as big (which in my opinion keeps an eye on the practicality of an onboard vs. its aesthetic value) and to me it's "too prominent"; which may indicate where Tesla sees us in terms of being able to understand and interpret technology (we aren't there yet).

My comments to the salesperson were first about the look and feel of white leather interior. Initially, I felt like this was less masculine and wanted to choose black interior. But after some thought I decided white was cool.

Then, I came to a few conclusions about the computer.

First, its role in my abstract thought (subliminally) seemed to remind me of a tablet or something. Then I thought, "they should make this thing detachable!". Goodbye, tablet... Hello, Tesla!

We ended up settling on a different car for closer to $400 per month (at $53,000 the least expensive vehicle is about $700 per month here).

Above you see its computer and center console.

 

no vehicle i have ever owned, was purchased from a car lot.

the internet did not exist yet then either.
either someone i already knew, someone someone i knew knew, or there used to be something called nickle adds.
kind of a print equivalent of what we have now with ebay and craig's list, that sort of thing, but published locally almost everywhere.
and you would contact the seller through the land line phones we used to have, or a post office box we used to have,
and then meet with them personally and have a good look, maybe a test drive, really always a test drive before transferring money in any form.

i've walked by car lots of course. occasionally a sales person would put the arm on me, so to speak, but on these occasions i was either virtually penny-less, or simply had no interest.